Sunday,
September 25, 2011
Hi~
Just back from seeing Mom, whose
mood went from a bit negative to much more positive and affectionate during the
hour and 40 minutes I was there.
Before I forget, there are two main
things: I made a Tuesday hair appointment
for her (with Janet? The woman who comes
on Tues., Thurs., and Fri.). I realize
that you’re taking her to the doctor tomorrow, Kathy, so if Tuesday is too soon
after that, I’m sure it can be changed to Thursday. Mom had spoken of getting a perm, but today
she just said she’d like to get her hair cut.
Maybe she could get it cut this week and then get it permed another day?
The other thing that came up was her
birthday. She said, “You’d better pay
for the room right away because it’s Halloween.”
I said, “Well, actually, I think
we’re having your birthday celebration a week before Halloween.
She said, “I’ve been thinking
Halloween.”
Do you think it would be possible to
have the party Saturday, October 29 instead of Saturday, October 22? Or maybe start the Halloween season 9 days in
advance? She continues to say she’d like
pens with erasers for her birthday!
When I first got there at 11:10, she
was sort of roaming around. When I asked
her how she was doing, she didn’t say, “This is a bad time because I’m being
investigated.” She didn’t even say, “All
right.” She said, “I’m doing pretty
well.” But she seemed uncomfortable with
the newspaper. “I’d like to know what to
do with this,” she told one of the aides.
I found it hard to engage her at first.
I tried the newspaper, a book, and then the crossword puzzle, and the
crossword puzzle worked the best.
(By the way, when I went into her room
to get the crossword puzzle, Kay was with her daughter Diane, who was a bit petulant. Is that where Kay learned it? She frowned and said, “Your mother got ink
all over my mother’s rug. I had to get
her another one because she needs a bath rug.”
I didn’t say, “The word you’re looking for is bath mat, but don’t
worry.” I also didn’t say, “Well, we’re
moving my mom out” either, but I did say, discreetly, “There’s going to be a
change” and Diane said, “I haven’t said anything.” I took the ink-stained one out and gave it to
one of the aides.)
Back to the crossword. When they
asked for a word pertaining to rhythm, we had to cheat. “Igot?” I asked. What’s an igot?” Mom corrected my pronunciation, which put the
stress on the first syllable, and said, stressing the second syllable, “That’s iGOT.
It’s something for the kitchen.”
Then I noticed that they said “two words.” I got rhythm.
When Mom saw May, Mom said, “This is
my daughter.” May said, “Well, hello
again! You certainly are faithful. You come all the time.” I was impressed by her remembering me
(unless, of course, she was remembering someone else or all of us as one), but
I think I like it even better when she says, “Your mother is doing such a good
job here.”
When Rocsana came by with Mom’s
pills, she overheard us talking about Mom’s birthday, and when I said, “Yes,
she’ll be ninety,” Rocsana said, “You look really good for your age.” Mom said, “If I had on lipstick and make-up,
I’d look even better.” That made me
wonder whether we should get her all dolled up on her birthday. All dolled up like the witch she wants to
be! Well, she can be the good with of
the West.
When she was talking about her hair,
she said, “Maybe I could get a better bargain here. But the other people in the place I’ve always
gone to never did me a bad turn, so I don’t want to…”
“Abandon them?”
“That’s the word.”
(Maybe the word was defect.)
Mother ate fairly well. She didn’t exactly clean her plate, but she
ate her soup and most of her grilled ham and cheese sandwich and ½ of her cole
slaw. She had both juice and
Ensure. She ate a lot of green mint ice
cream!
Then, since Kay was then in the
dining room, Mom and I went back to her room, and after she used the toilet, we
lay on the bed together and cuddled. She
said, “I’m excited about my birthday because this is the first time I turn
ninety. It may be the last time too.”
Yeah, I thought. Jack Benny.
Wasn’t he always saying he was 90 when he was really 91? Forever 90.
Don’t they have a clothing store by that name?
But I know what she was thinking,
and I remember a couple of years ago, Mom told me she thought she would live to
be ninety.
When Kay came back in the room, I
said hello to her and goodbye to Mom.
Mom, who hadn’t used my name the whole day, called after me as I was
leaving. “I love you, Tina.” That was nice. But Kay forgot to tell me.
Love,
Tina
PS How was the Opera Simulcast today? I thought of you when it started to
rain. Good luck tomorrow.
Today
I took pictures of the Aegis dining room and living room. I’m going to create a picture for Mom’s
invitation and let her give me feedback.
I also hope that by seeing a picture of the room it’ll start to look
familiar to her.
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